Production of aviation fuel via catalytic hydrothermal decarboxylation of fatty acids in microalgae oil

Cuiyue Yang; Renfeng Nie; Jie Fu; Zhaoyin Hou; Xiuyang Lu

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.07.131

Production of aviation fuel via catalytic hydrothermal decarboxylation of fatty acids in microalgae oil

Bioresour Technol. 2013 Oct:146:569-573. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2013.07.131. Epub 2013 Aug 2.

Authors

Cuiyue Yang¹, Renfeng Nie², Jie Fu³, Zhaoyin Hou⁴, Xiuyang Lu¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
² Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310028, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China. Electronic address: jiefu@zju.edu.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310028, China. Electronic address: zyhou@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 23973977
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2013.07.131

Abstract

A series of fatty acids in microalgae oil, such as stearic acid, palmitic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, arachidic acid and behenic acid, were selected as the raw materials to produce aviation fuel via hydrothermal decarboxylation over a multi-wall carbon nanotube supported Pt catalyst (Pt/MWCNTs). It was found that Pt/MWCNTs catalysts exhibited higher activity for the hydrothermal decarboxylation of stearic acid with a 97% selectivity toward heptadecane compared to Pt/C and Ru/C under the same conditions. And Pt/MWCNTs is also capable for the decarboxylation of different fatty acids in microalgae oil. The reaction conditions, such as Pt/MWCNTs loading amount, reaction temperature and time were optimized. The activation energy of stearic acid decarboxylation over Pt/MWCNTs was calculated (114 kJ/mol).

Keywords: Alkane; Decarboxylation; Fatty acid; Hydrothermal; Pt/MWCNTs.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aircraft
Alkanes / chemistry
Biofuels*
Biomass*
Bioreactors*
Carbon / chemistry
Catalysis
Decarboxylation
Fatty Acids / chemistry*
Kinetics
Microalgae / metabolism*
Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry
Stearic Acids / chemistry
Temperature
Time Factors

Substances

Alkanes
Biofuels
Fatty Acids
Nanotubes, Carbon
Stearic Acids
stearic acid
Carbon